Southern African Collections : Redwood Natal and Zululand Album 1879-80

Redwood, Charles Lewis (1855-1907)

Southern African Collections

An album containing albumen prints, measuring approximately 190 x 130 mm, with handwritten captions beneath the plates. The captions have been used as titles and may include language which is offensive, inaccurate or inappropriate. They have been retained to reflect the context of their creation.The album contains views of Durban and Pietermaritzburg as well as scenes from the Anglo-Zulu War (at Fort Pearson, Isandhlwane and Rorke's Drift). The photographs in this album form an important historical record of several aspects of the hostilities of 1879. The album contains photographs by (?William Laws) Caney (4, 8, 10, 16, 19 and 21), James Lloyd (32, 35, 37, 41-44), Benjamin Kisch (14, 36, 12), and J.R. Mee (28). Unattributed prints are also probably by one or other of these photographers. William Laws Caney: photographs in the album signed 'Caney' are presumed to be the work of this man who was advertising his studio in New Rush in 1872. However, several members of the family were also active commercial photographers and it is difficult to disentangle their relationship. William Laws Caney appears to have operated from the jewellery business trading in Durban under the name B.W. Caney. In 1887 a specifically photographic business was opened by William Harry Caney at 15 Church Street, Pietermaritzburg, but this firm seems to have moved back to Durban the following year. In the 1890s D. Edmund Caney was also active in Johannesburg. James Lloyd: according to Bensusan (1966, p. 20), Lloyd, together with F. Hodgson, was active as early as 1860 photographing the opening of the Durban railway in June of that year. He is listed in 'The Natal Almanac' as a professional photographer in Smith Street, Durban from 1872-99. Benjamin Kisch: born in 1842 in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. By 1863 he had emigrated to Natal, where he first worked as a grocer and general dealer as well as a photographer. By 1870 he had established his own photographic studio in Durban, and between 1872 and 1875, he worked in partnership with his brother Henry. Kisch did extensive coverage of the Zulu War of 1879. He died in Pretoria on 16 Feb. 1889.J.R. Mee: active c.1879-91 in Durban, Kimberley and Wynberg.The album was compiled by Charles Lewis Redwood (1855-1907), a goldmining and railway engineer and executive, resident in Durban in 1879. For portraits of Redwood see <a href='/view/MS-RCS-Y-03058-A/12'>Y3058A/7</a> and <a href='/view/MS-RCS-Y-03058-A/14'>Y3058A/9</a>. Immediate source of acquisition: Presented to the Royal Commonwealth Society in memory of Charles Lewis Redwood and Olivia Elizabeth Redwood (née Lys), pioneers of Natal and Johannesburg by their daughters Gwendolyn Mary Redwood and Zoë Olivia Mellor Evans'.